Pianist Joanna MacGregor to play for Rosalind Runcie Memorial Fund

Miss MacGregor, head of piano studies at the Royal Academy of Music, is regarded as one of the world’s most innovative musicians, having appeared in concert as a soloist in over 60 countries and played on 30 recordings ranging from Bach, Scarlatti, Ravel and Debussy, to jazz and contemporary music.

The Memorial Fund, administered by the St Albans School Foundation, is named after Rosalind, a former music teacher at the school and wife of the late Archbishop of Canterbury. It was created with the purpose of assisting students to learn the piano.

Lady Runcie was an accomplished pianist herself, having trained at the Guildhall School of Music. She was married to Robert Runcie who, after being Bishop of St Albans for 10 years, became Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991. During this time, Rosalind continued to return to St Albans regularly to teach piano. She also raised more than 500,000 for charity by giving concerts and recitals.

She taught piano until the time of her death in January 2012. Music was the anchor to her life, and she once famously said: “If there isn’t a piano in heaven then I don’t want to go there”.

The masterclass will take place in the School Library and six pupils from St Albans School and St Albans High School for Girls will take part.

Tickets are £20 for adults, £15 for concessions and £10 for pupils. Anyone interested in attending should contact Ros Boswell in the music office at St Albans School, Abbey Gateway, St Albans, AL3 4HB. Tickets numbers are very limited and all seats will be allocated in advance.

n St Albans School recently took delivery of eight Steinway pianos – seven uprights in the classrooms and rehearsal rooms and a model B Grand in one of the concert halls – with the goal of becoming one of the first all-Steinway schools in England and as part of a major refurbishment of its music department.